Board 117: Work in Progress: Impact of Teaching Engineering Summer Academy on Teacher Efficacy and Teaching Beliefs

Joni M. Lakin; Mary Lou Ewald; Nancy Nowlin Blanco; Jessica A. Gilpin

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Pre-College Engineering Education Division Poster Session
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education
Page Count: 16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32202
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/32202
Download Count: 360

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Paper Authors

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Joni M. Lakin Auburn University orcid.org/0000-0002-0546-0554

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Joni M. Lakin, Ph.D. from The University of Iowa, is Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology at Auburn University. Her research interests include educational assessment, educational evaluation methods, and increasing diversity in STEM fields.

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Mary Lou Ewald Auburn University

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Mary Lou Ewald is the Director of Outreach for the College of Sciences and Mathematics at Auburn University. She is also the Co-PI for AU-AMSTI and the Director of the AU Science in Motion program. Prior to her current position, she served as a Science in Motion physics specialist and an Instructor of general biology courses at Auburn University. For the past 15 years, Ms. Ewald has specialized in K-12 educational program development and implementation and currently oversees an outreach staff that delivers over twenty STEM-based student programs annually, including BEST Robotics, Science Olympiad, Greater East Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair, Summer Science Institute, Auburn Mathematical Puzzle Challenge, AU Explore, and Science Matters. In recent years, she has focused her K-12 efforts on working with STEM faculty to create teacher professional development opportunities related to project-based learning in middle and high school classrooms. Her academic training includes a B.S. in Physics and an M.S. in Biology, both from Auburn University.

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Nancy Nowlin Blanco Project Lead the Way

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Nancy Blanco currently serves as Alabama’s Director of School Engagement for the STEM education non-profit Project Lead The Way (PLTW). Prior to joining PLTW, Nancy was the Lead English as a Second Language Teacher and PLTW Program Coordinator in Lee County Schools. Nancy earned her undergraduate degree from Auburn University and holds a Master of Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Education from Auburn University.

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Jessica A. Gilpin Auburn University

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Abstract

This WIP paper reports the first year’s evaluation of a program where elementary teachers were trained to implement Project Lead The Way Launch modules in a summer STEM Academy for grades K-6. The goal of this project was to understand how the experience of teaching an informal STEM program influenced teachers’ confidence for teaching STEM in their formal classroom. We used a combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative analysis of focus groups and individual teacher interviews to explore teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching STEM and the benefits teachers observed for themselves and their students from participating in the program.

Methods A total of 44 teachers participated in the professional development training and then taught in the Summer Engineering Academy. Just five of the participating teachers had previously participated in any STEM professional development. Three of these teachers had led a robotics or STEM Challenge program in their schools. As part of our evaluation of the program, we gathered a wide variety of data from the teachers including the Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (TESS; Yoon Yoon, Evans, & Strobel, 2014) and Teacher Efficacy and Attitudes toward STEM Survey (T-STEM; Friday Institute, 2012).

Results for Teacher Self-Efficacy We used a repeated measures ANOVA to look at the change in scores on each of the three self-efficacy measures. We found that all three showed significant increases from pre to post-test at the PD workshop. All had large effect sizes. Once the academy started, engineering and science teaching self-efficacy maintained their levels through the post-summer survey. However, technology self-efficacy dropped following the summer program (pairwise comparison, p < .05).

At the end of the four-week program, the evaluation team conducted focus groups with program teachers asking questions about teachers’ comfort with STEM, their perceptions of student gains, and their own learning experiences. The following is an outline of the themes identified from the seven focus groups. In the full paper, quotes will support each.

What the Students Learned 1. Students stopped expecting there to be right and wrong answers 2. Students were responsible for their own learning 3. Students learned how to evaluate and discuss a problem 4. Students learned to collaborate and work well in groups 5. Students learn perseverance and to keep trying and solving problems

What the Teachers Learned and Plan to do in the future 1. How teachers plan to change their teaching as a result of this experience 2. Increased appreciation of their students 3. Teachers learned it was OK for them not to have the answers all the time 4. Hands on learning was noted to be especially helpful for less able students

By December, we will conduct follow-up interviews with teachers on their formal classroom for the school year. We are hopeful that the teachers’ plans to incorporate more scientific inquiry into their classroom will be translated into the classroom by then. Overall, we believe that the opportunity to teach informal STEM was a positive learning experience for teachers and will expand their formal teaching practices.

Citation
Format

Lakin, J. M., & Ewald, M. L., & Blanco, N. N., & Gilpin, J. A. (2019, June), Board 117: Work in Progress: Impact of Teaching Engineering Summer Academy on Teacher Efficacy and Teaching Beliefs Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32202

TY - CPAPER
AB - This WIP paper reports the first year’s evaluation of a program where elementary teachers were trained to implement Project Lead The Way Launch modules in a summer STEM Academy for grades K-6. The goal of this project was to understand how the experience of teaching an informal STEM program influenced teachers’ confidence for teaching STEM in their formal classroom. We used a combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative analysis of focus groups and individual teacher interviews to explore teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching STEM and the benefits teachers observed for themselves and their students from participating in the program.

Methods
A total of 44 teachers participated in the professional development training and then taught in the Summer Engineering Academy. Just five of the participating teachers had previously participated in any STEM professional development. Three of these teachers had led a robotics or STEM Challenge program in their schools. As part of our evaluation of the program, we gathered a wide variety of data from the teachers including the Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (TESS; Yoon Yoon, Evans, &amp; Strobel, 2014) and Teacher Efficacy and Attitudes toward STEM Survey (T-STEM; Friday Institute, 2012).

Results for Teacher Self-Efficacy
We used a repeated measures ANOVA to look at the change in scores on each of the three self-efficacy measures. We found that all three showed significant increases from pre to post-test at the PD workshop. All had large effect sizes. Once the academy started, engineering and science teaching self-efficacy maintained their levels through the post-summer survey. However, technology self-efficacy dropped following the summer program (pairwise comparison, p &lt; .05).

At the end of the four-week program, the evaluation team conducted focus groups with program teachers asking questions about teachers’ comfort with STEM, their perceptions of student gains, and their own learning experiences. The following is an outline of the themes identified from the seven focus groups. In the full paper, quotes will support each.

What the Students Learned
1. Students stopped expecting there to be right and wrong answers
2. Students were responsible for their own learning
3. Students learned how to evaluate and discuss a problem
4. Students learned to collaborate and work well in groups
5. Students learn perseverance and to keep trying and solving problems

What the Teachers Learned and Plan to do in the future
1. How teachers plan to change their teaching as a result of this experience
2. Increased appreciation of their students
3. Teachers learned it was OK for them not to have the answers all the time
4. Hands on learning was noted to be especially helpful for less able students

By December, we will conduct follow-up interviews with teachers on their formal classroom for the school year. We are hopeful that the teachers’ plans to incorporate more scientific inquiry into their classroom will be translated into the classroom by then. Overall, we believe that the opportunity to teach informal STEM was a positive learning experience for teachers and will expand their formal teaching practices.

AU - Joni M. Lakin
AU - Mary Lou Ewald
AU - Nancy Nowlin Blanco
AU - Jessica A. Gilpin
CY - Tampa, Florida
DA - 2019/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 117: Work in Progress: Impact of Teaching Engineering Summer Academy on Teacher Efficacy and Teaching Beliefs
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/32202
DO - 10.18260/1-2--32202
ER -